HST 212: Modern American History

Midterm #1 Study Guide

American Federation of Labor (AFL)

• Federation of Craft Unions

• Only recruited skilled laborers

• Called for “pure and simple unionism”, as opposed to grander ideas of reforming the country as a whole

• Avoided entering politics

Annexation of Hawaii

• Part of a larger effort by American sugar plantation owners to gain control of the Hawaiian government

• Plantation owners launch an American-backed coup against the Native Hawaiian government in 1893

• Queen Lili’uokalani is deposed, and a republic is declared under the leadership of plantation owners

• Hawaii is formally annexed in 1898

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

• Law passed by Congress that restricted Chinese immigration into U.S.

• All immigration of Chinese laborers (skilled or unskilled) is suspended for 10 years

• The act is then extended indefinitely in the 20th century until it’s finally repealed in 1943

Committee on Public Information

• Formed in April 1917

• Propaganda arm of the U.S. government

• Methods included pamphlets, plays, films, speeches, and posters

Congressional Reconstruction

• Asserted power over Congress by the President in directing reconstruction

• Reconstruction Act (1867)

  • South is divided into 5 military districts

  • Martial law

  • Tennessee is excluded as it had already ratified the 14th amendment

• To re-establish state governments, the Southern states had to guarantee Black voting rights and ratify the 14th amendment

Dawes Act of 1887

• Breaks apart reservations and Native governments

• Individual Native Americans are granted small allotments of land

• The goal is to encourage the assimilation of Native people

• Ends up leading to much of the remaining Native land in the hands of white settlers

• In 1887, 138 million acres of land is controlled by Native people. By 1934, that number is down to 48 million

The Election of 1876

• Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) v. Samuel Tilden (Democrat)

• Tilden is hostile to reconstruction, while Hayes recognizes it’s declining popularity

• A very close election, with dispute over some states, results in the “Compromise of 1876”

14th Amendment

• Establishes birthright citizenship in the U.S. and enshrines it in the Constitution

• States cannot violate individuals’ rights without due process

• All persons get equal protection of the law

• Gives the federal government authority to enforce the amendment against offending states (Enforcement Acts)

• Ratified in 1868

• “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.”

15th Amendment

• Voting rights cannot be denied due to race, color, or a previous condition of servitude

• Limits were that it didn’t include women, and that it didn’t account for state-level practices that weren’t explicitly based on race, color, or previous servitude; such as poll taxes or literacy tests.

• Enforcement acts were used to the support the 14th and 15th amendments.

The Ghost Dance

• Religion popular among Native Americans in the 1880s

• Developed by Wovoka, a Northern Paiute man in Nevada

Harlem Renaissance

• Black intellectual and artistic movement based in the neighborhood of Harlem in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s

• Grew out of the Great Migration and post-WWI drive for civil rights in Black communities

• Characterized by exploration and celebration of Black identity and an explicit effort to overcome stereotypes

• Major figures include authors Neale Hurston and Nella Larsen; as well as poet Langston Hughes

Homestead Act of 1862

• 160 acres of land distributed to farmers effectively for free

• After 5 years of occupation and farming, farmers would gain legal ownership

• Encouraging settlement of Western territories by farmers

Horizontal Integration

• Form of trust

• Ownership of most or all of a single stage of industry

• All businesses at other stages of industry, as well as consumers, must work with you

• Example: John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company

Jane Addams

• Founder of Hull House in Chicago

  • Beginning of “settlement houses” in the U.S. and social work

• Hull House is initially paternalistic, motivated by transforming working class people and immigrants into an image of middle class

• Transitions towards genuine social justice emphasis as Addams focuses on the needs voiced by the local community

Johnson-Reed Act of 1924

• Expansion of earlier restrictions on immigration

• Established immigration quotas based on an 1890 census

  • Doing so artificially decreases future immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe

• Totally bans immigration from Asia

• Leaves immigration from Latin America unrestricted

• Praised by anti-immigrants activists

The Knights of Labor (KOL)

• Early labor organization led by Terrence Powderly

• Argues for a “cooperative commonwealth” and reforms

  • Cooperatives of “producers” (farmers and laborers) ran the country

  • Reforms include 8-hour work day and inflation

• Launches failed strike of railroad workers in 1886, in which it causes the organization to fall apart soon after

Margaret Sanger

• Advocate for women’s access to birth control

• Motivated by depths of women in childbirth and attempted abortions

• Begins to adopt eugenicist politics in order to attract wider support

Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862

• Public land owned by the federal government given to states

• Only condition is that the state must sell the land to private interests, and use the proceeds to build public universities that teach agriculture and military science

• Encourages development and scientific agriculture in the West

Nativism

• Broad hatred of outsiders immigrating to the U.S.

• Has a long history in the U.S. before the late 19th century

• Surges with the rise of New Immigration, leading to newer targets of Nativist hatred

New Immigration

• Transition in origins of immigrants to the U.S. towards Southern and Eastern Europe

• Results in a rapid increase in the number of immigrants who look different than older immigrants, speak different languages, and have different religions. This limited acceptance of them.

• In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gives the people living in the annexed territory of Mexico the choice to either become American citizens and stay, or remain Mexican citizens and move to Mexico.

19th Amendment

• Constitutional amendment establishing women’s right to vote nationwide

• Suffragists use war as leverage to push for the amendment

• Some suffragists push for more expansive amendments for equal rights

Pacific Railroad Act of 1862

• Gave subsidies to railroad companies building “transcontinental railroads”

  • Direct subsidies for miles of tracks built

  • Land grants along the planned routes for the railroad itself

People’s Party

• 3rd party emerged in 1892

• Advocates for farmers

• The 1892 platform:

  • Federal Ownership of Railroads

  • Progressive Income Tax

  • Electoral Reforms

  • Restrictions on Immigration

  • Free Silver

• James Weaver gets 8.5% of the vote in 1892

Philippine-American War

• Formally fought from 1898 to 1902

• Filipino nationalists led by Emilio Aguinaldo fight guerrilla war against American occupation

• U.S. army employs torture of suspected Filipino fighters and use concentration camps

• War ends with support of Filipino elites and U.S. promises of economic development and limited self-government

Platt Amendment

• The war is over, but American troops are still occupying Cuba

• The U.S. agrees to withdraw and support Cuban independence, with a few stipulations to be placed in the new Cuban constitution;

  • U.S. gets a naval base at Guantanamo Bay

  • U.S. oversees Cuban foreign policy

  • U.S. is allowed to intervene in Cuban internal affairs to make sure it aligns with American interests — particularly business interests

Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906

• Response to The Jungle by Upton Sinclair

  • Focuses on food quality and safety as opposed to working conditions or poverty of workers

• Progressive reform placing greater regulations on food industries

• Sinclair: “I aimed at the public’s heart, and by accident, I hit it in the stomach”

• The Meat Inspection Act is the first step towards government regulation of business

Second KKK

• Massive, mainstream social movement inspired by The Birth of a Nation

• Nationwide; not just in the south

• Framed itself as defending their white supremacist nation against “moral depravity”

• Notably flexible in defining “enemy” in regional terms according to local prejudices

Sedition Act of 1918

• Criminalizes dissent

  • Any acts deemed to be disloyal

  • Speaking out against U.S. government, constitution, flag, or uniform

  • Interfering with wartime production

  • Promoting the cause of America’s enemies

  • Obstructing military recruitment

Spanish-American War

• Avenging attack on the USS Maine

• Liberating Cubans

• Colonial expansion

  • Puerto Rico

  • Guam

  • The Philippines

Theodore Roosevelt

• VP under McKinley

• Elevated to presidency after McKinley’s assassination

• First president committed to progressive ideas

• Beliefs based in a desire to avoid revolution

Women’s Suffrage

• Long political movement dating back to at least the 1848 Seneca Falls convention

• Key figures:

  • Susan B. Anthony

  • Elizabeth Cady Stanton

• Split over 15th amendment

  • Immediate suffrage v. Gradual suffrage